Clark Skamania Fly Fishermen Fly Tying Lessons

For five or six weeks, usually the last week in february through the end of march, the Clark Skamania Fly Fishing club offers their introduction to fly tying classes on thursdays at 7pm, at Fronier Middle School. Class members get to use club tools and materials. Every week they have a different instructor, so they get to see the techniques taught with a little different twist from each instructor. I generally teach the final class. This year I will teach how to tie a Muddler Minnow and a spun deer hair bass bug. At the FFF NW Expo a pretty young lady sat down at my demo table and said "Hi, Rod!" I had no clue who this was, and I am not senile enough not to remember someone that looks like that that claims to know me. "It's me, Kelly, from the fly tying class." I asked her to turn around and let me see her from the back...the back of her head. She did, and yes, I did recognize her then. You see, I assist the tyers in the fourth row of the classroom. There are a couple of women in the third row, but I had never seen their faces....just the back of their heads. Hence the turn around and then I recognized her bit. We enjoyed visiting, and it turns out she also happens to be a new member of the Stonefly Maidens. She was present at their table for the dinner and auction. She also spent a lot of time talking with Brian O'Keefe.....he is old, but in great shape and dresses well. I think if any flirting went on, it came from Brian....that old dog....I am sooo jealous Brian....insert "lol" here. It is interesting having women taking a fly tying class. We have 5 in our class, I think. Two weeks ago, they all missed class because they were out together getting their hair done. That type of activity is rare in an all guy fly tying class.

2008 Pacific Northwest Sportsmen's Show

A very big show. Tons of everything for hunting and fishing. My favorite item was a $90,000 jet boat. Big enough to live on, with a 5 seat totally enclosed weatherprof cockpit. The cockpit (or bridge) had so much room a person could live in there. That feature is convenient because if I brought it home, my wife would insist that I move out of the house and into the boat. This year O'Laughlin shows had a nice fly tying demonstration area. Room for six featured fly tyers along one side of a 24 person fly tying theater. The theater has guest expert tyers scheduled for one hour demonstrations throughout the run of the show. I had one session in the video theater and the rest of the time I was at a demonsration table showing people how to make and use my fur and feather brushes. I am the only one making and selling them that I know of. The only problem with the brushes is that very few people know how they are used because the product is not just another of a particular type of material that people are familiar with. My brushes are unique to the tying world and once a person sees what they can do they are generally impressed at what can be done with them. Another great opportunity to learn from some of the best tyers around the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

2008 Federation of Fly Fishermen Northwest Fly Tying Expo

There are two fly tying events in the Pacific Northwest that the professional and regionally famous fly tyers love to participate in and the fly tying public can't wait to attend. One of them is this Expo held in Albany, OR at the Linn County Fairgrounds the second weekend in March. Great venue, low cost to attend, and a great opportunity to learn tips and techniques from some of the most innovative tyers in the U.S. as well as from excellent tyers just tying 'fishin' flies". The other event is the Bamboo Rod Fair in Sisters, OR in July, which I will write about in another post. Every fly tyer learns something from the Expo. Attendees should bring a camera, notebok and pencil, and a container to put flies in. The approximately 150 tyers demonstrating their skills are there to answer your questions, show you cutting edge techniques, and in most cases, hand out the flies they tie for you. Pick a fly genre and you will find numerous tyers demonstrating how they tie them. There seems to be more Atlantic Salmon fly tyers every year. Those flies are absolutey gorgeous. It takes years to become an expert, but simple patterns are out there. If given enough time and enough money to buy the exotic materials any experienced tyer can tie one, although there are also special techniques for processing and tieing with these materials that will require you to find further instruction. For those of us that are considered featured tyers the Expo is a chance to renew friendships, shake a hand or two, and exchange hugs (there are some very good lady tyers as well). I got to see most of my fly tying buddies this year. Henry Hoffman (one of the nicest people on the planet), Jim and Donna Teeny tieing the famous Teeny Nymph, Mike Marchando, Joe "bead man" Warren, Don Abing (and his ever-present chihuahua), Steve Brocco, Kieth Burkhart, Lee Clark (Clark's Stonefly), Hal Gordon (atlantic salmon flies), Skip Hosfield, Alec Jackson, Gene Kaczmarek, Harry Lemire, Jackson Leong (realistic flies.....his butterflies have been known to fly away and actually mate), Ronn Lucas, Dave and Katie McNeese, John Shewey, Preston Singletary, Curt Stutzman (tied flies for my shop back in 1977...he is very very old), Gene Stutzman, Marc Williamson (another one of the nice guys....a role model whether he likes it or not), and Rich Youngers.
After the expo is over there is a banquet and live auction. There are always beautiful fly plates, rods and reels, guided trips, and best of all, a membership to the Oregon Fishing Club. At the banquet, at a table of their own, were the Stonefly Maidens, an all female fly fishing club that supports breast cancer survivors and raises money to teach women to fly fish. It seems to be rather easy for them to get fantastic items to raffle off as fundraisers. It never hurts to have a bunch of pretty women as friends, and I am really priveledged to know them. They are pretty good fisherpeople as well. I have the opportunity to spend a few hours on the Metolious River with them. I was invited t sit at their table for the banquet and auction, and we were the loudest table in the room. Good people, lots of laughs.....even if my masculinity was challenged by the aucitoneer for sitting with "the girls"....over the microphone, I might add! A very nice Friday and Saturday, looking forward with great anticipation to next year. All in all, a great tying show. Don't miss it next year.

Flash Bunny Bugger

I have mentioned the Flash Bunny Bugger in previous postings on this blog. I figured I should put in the pattern discription.

Hook: 2x or 3x long wet fly hook in various sizes. I generally tie them in sizes 4-8, but have tied them from size 18 to 3/0. In larger sizes, you don't need a long hook shank. I even go to 2x short hooks on Bunny Buggers above a size 4.

Head: Many options here - bare thread, cone (choose color, style, and material), or bead (choose color, style, and material)

Thread: 3/0 or 6/0 black. Some tyers use a particular color to indicate the sink rate that has been built into the fly.

Weight: None or lead wire/non-toxic wire in your choice of diameter/sink rate. Weight the entire length of the hook, or for more action, just use thorax weighting.

Weed Guard: One length of monofilament. Tie in at the mid-point of the hook, on top of the hook, and continue wrapping the thread back and down the bend of the hook to a point just above the hook point. Be sure to maintain the position of the mono on top of the hook. After the rest of the fly is tied, you bring the mono forward and through the eye of the hook. Use thread to secure the mono on the underisde of the hook just behind the eye of the hook. Trim close and super glue. If necessary for a clean look, use a cautery tool to very carefully melt the tag end of the mono that may be sticking out from under the thread. The heat from the tool can easily burn your thread and your fly will explode as the thread quickly unravels. You can use clear or colored mono. Mono, even colored mono, does a great job of disappearing in the water. Red is a great fish-attracting color. It may look like blood from an injured fish. Mono to match the body color looks great on a finished fly and catches fishermen when buying flies. I generally use 30#, really cheap mono. Even among cheap brands of mono, the stiffness varies between brands. Find what you need in stiffness as to brand and breaking strength and stick with it. Different conditions may call for different strengths of mono. If I am fishing bass in heavy wood cover, the 30# or 40# mono is needed. If I just want to discourage weeds from fouling the hook, 20# or 30# will get the job done without reducing hookups from less agressive fish like trout and panfish.

Tail: Zonker strip tied in long (two inches). Tail can then be trimmmed to whatever length you prefer. I find that I prefer long unless fish start striking short.

Tail Flash: Crystal flash (5 pieces) extending 1/2 inch beyond hook bend. I generally match the tail color. The fly pattern calls for either just tail flash tied in after tieing in the tail, or, after wrapping body, tie the flash fibers in at the collar of the fly and pull the free ends over the back and extending past the bend of the hook where teh fibers are tied down at the usual tie in point and then trimmed to the desired length.

Body: Chenille (solid color, variegated, or flash....fine, medium, or large) or dubbing, to match or contrast with tail color. If you use dubbing it is easier to use the sewing needle method to attach rubber legs.

Rubber Legs (or not): If used, color to match or contrast with the body. Either tie in before wrapping body using the figure-eight technique, or use Whitlock's sewing needle method after the body is tied in.

Palmering: Bunny Brush - Rabbit fur taken from the skin, placed between two wires, then twisted. This material is the very best way to palmer rabbit fur on any fly, especially here, where the rabbit fur is used in place of hackle. More movement, more fish....simple equation.

By coincidence, I just happen to be the manufacturer, wholesaler, and one of the retailers of these fantastic products....lol. Just let me know if you are interested.

Collar "Hackle": Two or three turns of Bunny, Mink, Finn Raccon, Arctic Fox, or Marabou Brush to match or contrast body color. Pull the material back with a lot of force to get it to lay down "wet fly style". If you need more of a swept back angle, wrap a few turns of thread over the materialwhile pulling it back with a lot of force.

Took Guests Out to Some OFC Lakes

Saturday morning I took a friend, his two boys, and his brother in-law out fishing. We started out at Margaret Lake and Pond. The boys were fishing with PowerBait and bobber from the fishing dock on the North side of the lake. They got lots of bites, but form where I was standing it looked like they had too much PowerBait on the hook. It was a pretty good-sized gob of sparkly chartreuse and I think the hook point was having a hard time getting through that bait to ever hook a fish. I don't remember the brother-in-law's name.....I will just call him "the guy" in this post. They guy and I were fishing flies in the NE corner of Margaret Lake. I gave him a size 8 olive flash bunny bugger and I fished the same, but mine had a rabbit strip tail. I was taking my time getting ready, pretty content to watch everyone else for a while at least. He had four hits within three feet of shore in as many casts, but couldn't hook the fish. He was getting frustrated. I couldn't stand just watching any longer. Besides, I wanted to show him how to "get it done". First cast and a 13 inch rainbow. On the next cast he finally hooked one and instead of trying to play the fish he turned and ran away from the lake, dragging a 13 inch rainbow behind him. Just as the fish cleared the water, the hook pulled out and he pounced on the fish. We had a good laugh and the fish was successfully released. I told him when he backs away from the lake like that he should have a beeper going. Like the garbage truck that intrudes on my neighborhood each week. Everytime it backs up.....beep......beep......beep....beep.

I managed to catch two fish and he had the one he winched out. We eventually headed over to Big Tree / Little Tree Lakes. All five of us fished Little Tree for an hour. We saw enough casually rising fish to keep us fishing, but no follows or hookups. I had been fishing flies the entire time, but now I switched over to a silver bladeed, yellow-bodied Panther Martin Spinner and crossed over to Big Tree Lake at the fishing dock adjacent to Little Tree Lake. Two casts in the area of the dead trees to the left of the dock yielded twin twenty inch rainbows that fought extremely well. One of them jumped clear of the water five times immediately after being hooked. The guy said "I've been to lakes all over Colorado and California and have never seen a lake as beautiful as Little Tree Lake". I agreed and looked around. I am sure a lucky person to be able to fish here and share the experience with others.

Getting in the Mood to Tie Flies

In a previous post I promised to start my fly tying for the year. Last night my friend Dave came over just to tie flies together and for some help with parachute flies and chironomids. That session got my tying juices flowing again. I left the tying stuff on the dining room table. I need to get some done right away before my wife orders me back out to the garage so I can mess up that floor instead of our carpet. I misplaced the catalytic heater head that makes it all comfy cozy out there......got to find it.....today? I also got out my fly boxes to sort through to make a list of what I needed to tie and to get the boxes organized. I need to get samples out to the fishing magazine product reviewers and too make sure I have enough flies to give away and sell at this year's sportsman's shows.

2 am and on the water

My friend Ken invited me to go steelhead fishing on the N. Fork of the Lewis River. He wanted to leave early, to be able to fish from a particular rock before someone else got there. I have always thought that early means 6am or so. Ken came to pick me up at 1am. A side trip to Wal-Mart for bait and tackle and we found ourselves on the water by 2am. Someone had taken Ken's rock already. They claimed to have been fishing all night. As I was rigging up my fly rod, several other people drove in. It started to get a bit crowded. I didn't know the water and couldn't see the river too well by flashlight so I had to fish where I was sitting already. I was going to swing a fly, and when it was just me and Ken there was plenty of room. By the time I was rigged up there was no room to fly fish. I didn't have anything but a fly rod. I found a baitcasting reel in the bottom of my tackle bag. It needed line and I had a spool of 8# mono in the bag. I put the baitcasting reel on my 12 foot, 8 wt. spey rod. I rigged up for plunking and just sat there waiting. This is boring fishing, but it does work. It works every day except today. 2am, 40 degrees, 4 layers of thermal and windbreaking clothing, 1 pair of gloves and 1 pair of mittens, and it is pitch black. We fished for 3 hours without a touch. Ken reeled in to check his tackle. He casted out to the same spot he was in before. As soon as the corky and shrimp hit the water he connected with a 7 pound male silver. We called it quits soon after that. I get spoiled fishing the OFC private access river fishing sites and the lack of crowds and water that doesn't get pounded. It was still a great trip. Any time I can get out of doors, it is still better than staying home.